1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an airbag device that inflates and deploys to protect an occupant in a vehicle impact.
2. Background Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-106841 discloses an airbag apparatus including a rectifier disposed inside the bag. The rectifier has blowoff openings configured such that the blowoff directions of deflected gas flow (discharged gas flow) are opposite two directions toward the outside of the bag. A first pair of opposite sides of the bag are folded in the blowoff directions of gas flows, and a second pair of opposite sides of the bag are folded in the directions perpendicular to the blowoff directions of gas flow.
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-106841, the bag is designed such that the bag is difficult to be unfolded in the blowoff directions of gas flows from the rectifier and the bag is easy to be unfolded in the directions perpendicular to the blowoff directions of gas flows, allowing a gas in the bag to diffuse uniformly and entirely toward the outer periphery of the bag. Consequently, a pressure toward the occupant by the bag is distributed, to thereby reduce a bag deployment speed.
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-106841, unfortunately, after the first pair of sides and the second pair of sides extend, the gas flows from the blowoff openings of the rectifier flow along and inside these pairs of sides. Thereby, these gas flows are accordingly apt to act as the pressure toward the occupant by the bag.
Thus, if an occupant is in the airbag's deployment area, for example, if the occupant is out of position (OOP), the airbag may hit the occupant with a relatively strong pressure.